A Shift in Timelines
by ToothPasteCanyon
Summary: Mabel's ready to leave Gravity Falls. She's ready to grow up. But according to the rest of the world, summer hasn't even started yet.
1. Chapter 1

"I spy… something green."

"Trees?"

"Wow, Dipper! First guess, again!"

Dipper grinned, shifting a little in his seat. "Eh, there's not that much else green out here."

"What about this mould stain on the ceiling?"

"Okay, except that." He peered out of the window. "Hey Mabel, I spy something that says 'Leaving Gravity Falls."

Mabel pointed. "It's that sign! I am nine hundred and ninety nine percent sure about that!"

"And you're right." He wistfully watched the board pass. "Goodbye, summer."

"Yup, onward to new adventures! Haha, ha… Goodbye, summer."

The two were quiet for a while, listening to the gentle rumbling of the bus and looking out at the blur of the forest. Mabel felt strange; a little sad, and a little happy. Sad because they were leaving, happy because of all they'd done. She and Dipper had amazing adventures, bought a pig, fought monsters, made lifelong friends, saved the world… It had truly been the best summer ever.

And it was at its end. It was time to grow up. What adventures would lie ahead?

Mabel looked over to her brother, about to share her thoughts when she realized his eyes were closed. Dipper was resting his head on a backpack propped up against the window, with such a peaceful expression you'd never know he'd been caught in the middle of an apocalypse last week. Mabel smiled, petted Waddles sitting by her feet, leant back and closed her own eyes.

Sleep came easily; for a bus, they had some pretty comfy seats. For a while there was only the calm darkness of her closed eyes, but then a faint noise came to her attention. A song? A whisper.

The whisper gradually became louder, until she could make out the content. They were letters being softly chanted, over and over again.

 _AOXLOTL_

Mabel felt a rush of air on her body, like she was flying… or falling.

 _AOXLOTL_

The darkness shifted, and something white appeared in the middle of her vision. The voices chanted louder.

 _AOXLOTL_

The white was getting closer. She was definitely falling, her hair and clothes pulled upwards by the wind resistance. Mabel tried to find something, anything to slow her fall, but there was nothing to save her.

 _AOXLOTL_

Mabel screamed as the ground continued to rush up at her.

 _AOXLOTL_

She braced herself for impact.

 _AOXLOTL_

Mabel felt her legs connect with something, and when she dared open her eyes she saw she was drifting in space again. Shards of white had scattered around her, slowly spreading out in what appeared to be an endless darkness. She wasn't falling anymore.

 _Mabel…_

Mabel craned her head to look behind her, where she could see the hole in the wall of white she had broken through.

 _Mabel…_

That voice. It wasn't like the chanting, it sounded like-

"Mabel!" Mabel jumped up to see her brother leaning over her, gently shaking her shoulders. "Hey, sis. I hate to wake you up, but we're here."

She sat up, rubbing her head. "Oh man, I just had the weirdest dream. And it wasn't like those times I ate Smile Dip, it was… just weird."

"What's Smile Dip?" At her brother's question Mabel looked up in confusion – he'd been there at the haunted convenience store – but he was already moving on, picking up his bags. "Nevermind. We can talk about it later. Let's get going; I need to stretch my legs after this bus trip."

Mabel smiled. "Oh, yeah. It's been so long, but I can't wait to see Mom and Dad again!"

"Mom and Dad?" Dipper rolled his eyes. "No, Mabel. Great Uncle Ford. We're staying at his place over the summer, remember?"

"Wait, but... but… what?"

"Come on, wake up. The bus driver's waving us off." Dipper wheeled his bags down the bus steps, towards a dusty bus stop backdropped by a forest of trees. A bus stop they had just left a few hours ago. "Welcome to Gravity Falls, apparently."


	2. Chapter 2

Mabel looked around, her smile frozen on her face. This had to be a mistake, right? They were heading back to Piedmont; summer was over. Why was Dipper acting like it just started?

"So, are we supposed to wait here, or something?" Dipper kicked his feet in the dirt as the bus pulled off. "This Ford is not doing great in the childcare department so far."

"Dipper?"

"Yeah?" Dipper looked up, and then frowned. "Hey, are you okay? You look a little pale."

"I just… this is a joke, right? This has to be a joke."

"Whoa, Mabel, don't worry. Great Uncle Ford's probably just late. We'll be fine if we just stay here." He looked over at the trees, and a grin formed on his face. "Unless this forest is haunted or something. Then we'll worry, okay?"

Mabel blinked, recoiling from him. "Dipper, the forest is haunted! You know that!"

"Know that… from like a horror movie or something?" Dipper's smile dropped. "Mabel, what are you trying to say?"

Before she could elaborate, a car zoomed down the road and pulled up feet away from the twins. The driver's door was flung open and a very panicked old man Mabel recognised instantly as Ford jumped out and ran up to them. "Kids! I'm so sorry I was late! How long were you standing out here?"

Mabel just stared at him, absolutely bewildered. He was in on it too?

"Not long." Dipper crossed his arms. "Why were you late?"

"I found a gnome in my car. Such troublemakers, those little men," Ford leaned down and started picking up their luggage. "I chased him off, but he'd chewed through some important circuitry I had to rewire before coming to pick you up... Ugh, it was a nightmare. Anyway, I hope that answered your question."

"Uh, sure, but it brings up so many more! What are gnomes? How did you rewire a car?"

Mabel shot a look at her brother. What?

"Ah... Dipper, right? I take it your parents haven't explained what I do for a living."

"They did not explain that. Or... anything about you, actually."

"Then let's get to know each other, shall we? I'm a paranormal researcher." He held up a six fingered hand when Dipper opened his mouth. "We'd be standing here all afternoon if I tried to explain it here. Come with me, we can discuss it in the car."

"Sure, uh, Mr Pines?"

He chucked as he loaded luggage into the car. "Please, children. You can call me Ford."

Mabel was still standing right where the bus had dropped her off, stunned. Why was Dipper playing dumb about magical creatures? Why did Ford introduce himself again? What was going on?

"Hey, Mabel," Dipper had taken her hand and started leading her towards the car, excitedly whispering, "He's a paranormal researcher! Those conspiracy websites are true! Isn't this awesome?"

She just nodded as the two approached the car. The Stanmobile, as her great uncle liked to- wait.

"Mabel?

" _Grunkle Stan_!"

Ford turned around. "You can call me that too, if you want." He was smiling at her; why was he smiling at her? "Grunkle, what a creative abbreviation of 'Great Uncle'. I like it!"

At a loss of what to say, she let Dipper lead her into the backseat. She put her seatbelt on, and they were off.

* * *

The entire car ride was spent with Grunkle Ford explaining his work to a weirdly oblivious Dipper. He told them all about the gnomes (which she already knew about) the journals he'd written (which she definitely knew about) and then fielded dozens of questions from her brother (most of which Mabel knew the answer to, and so should have her brother) She didn't say much, the hope that this was some elaborate practical joke fading fast. Dipper was too bad at those to pull something like this off.

If it wasn't a joke, though, then what was it? A dream? She pinched herself, but the ensuing pain told her it was far too real. But what happened to the summer she'd just had? She was just going home, and now it was just starting again. It didn't make any sense.

Her head hurt from trying to figure this out. Maybe Dipper could help, once they got back to the Mystery... the Mystery...

"That's a brilliant question, Dipper, but we'll have to continue this discussion on quantum weirdness frequencies at another time." Ford had pulled up to a building that was definitely not the Mystery Shack. "Let me show you two around my house."

Mabel stepped out of the car and took a good look at it. That was definitely the Mystery Shack building, but beyond that the similarities to her welcoming summer home ended. Science apparatus replaced 'NO REFUND' signs, from solar panels on the roof to a tall metal pole stuck in the ground by the entrance. A tall fence surrounded the perimeter, tipped with barbed wire.

She looked over to her brother, and saw his eyes were as wide as saucers. They just kept widening as Ford led them to the front and he pointed out various wards defending against the magical creatures of the forest.

"Little silver for the werewolves, over there is my garlic patch to keep out the vampires... My house is the safest place from the supernatural in the world. It had to be before I'd even consider letting you two stay." Ford grinned at the two. "Mabel, you haven't spoken much. What do you think of your summer home?"

"It's, um, great!" Mabel glanced at a large statue of a stone figure with wings, hands over its eyes. "Very... different, Grunkle Ford."

"Haha, you kids just wait until you see the inside!" Ford drew out an insanely large ring of keys and began unlocking the many locks on the door to what should have been the gift shop. Once finished, he pushed it open. "Come in, come in. This is my study... I'd rather you two didn't come here without me present."

Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with various dusty tomes. Off to one side was a desk, with a pen and ink and pages of handwritten notes. There was a noticeable lack of secret-door vending machines... or anything remotely like the Mystery Shack, for that matter.

Could Stan just jump out from somewhere and say this was all a prank, please?

"And, if you'll come with me, I'll show you the kitchen..."

With a knot of ever-tightening anxiety in her stomach, Mabel followed.

* * *

After a tour she didn't need, Ford left the two to unpack in... Grunkle Stan's room. Not that it looked anything like his room – just a spare bedroom, it seemed – but still, this only made her more and more curious about where her beloved Grunkle had gone. The solution just wasn't hitting her; she wasn't good at figuring out these mysteries...

"Oh my gosh, Mabel, that was amazing!"

...But she knew somebody who was.

"Dipper," Mabel wiped away a few strands of hair she was chewing on. "This is, uh... don't you think this is weird?"

He grinned. "Yeah, it's weird. Supernatural creatures exist!"

"No, no, that's not what I meant. Don't you remember anything?"

"Remember anything about what?" Dipper laughed a little, but it died away when he saw the dead serious look on her face. "Is this the same thing you were talking about when we got off the bus?"

"Yes! Before I went to sleep we were going home – Piedmont home, not Gravity Falls home – and now I woke up and summer's starting all over again? And where's Grunkle Stan?"

"I caught exactly zero of that."

" _Dipper_! Come on, you've gotta remember!" Mabel reached over and started shaking his shoulders. "Grunkle Stan! The Mystery Shack! Bill Cipher, summer romances, our whole summer!"

Dipper shrugged her off. "Mabel, calm down! That must have been a dream or something. We've have never been to Gravity Falls before today; I think I'd remember a place like this."

"But... but... the entire summer?"

"You had a dream once where you imagined an entire civilisation of dolphins in sweaters. If there's one thing I've learned about you, it's to not underestimate your imagination." He smiled, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Mabel. I actually think we're going to have an awesome summer here with Great Uncle Ford! I mean, unicorns? You've always wanted to see one of those, and apparently they actually exist! Isn't that cool?"

Mabel smiled and nodded as her brother started gushing about the weirdness in Gravity Falls again, but she really wasn't listening. She could feel in her gut that something was deeply, seriously wrong...

And she was on her own in figuring it out.


	3. Chapter 3

Mabel didn't sleep much that night, still deeply unsettled about the recent turn of events. She was leaving, she went to sleep, and now summer was starting all over again? And where was Grunkle Stan? It didn't make any sense.

Her mind kept going back to that strange dream she had, falling through a wall with someone chanting 'Axolotl'. That probably had something to do with it... If only she could figure out what that something was.

Slowly, she began to drift away to sleep. She dreamt of her Grunkle Stan and the smell of fresh pancakes until morning.

"Mabel." A soft voice stirred her out of those pleasant dreams. She frowned, refusing to open her eyes. "Mabel?"

"No," She mumbled. "Only pancakes will wake me up."

A gentle hand rocked her shoulder. "Come on, Mabel. Grunkle Ford says he wants to show us something?"

"Is it pancakes?"

"I don't think so, but-"

"Then shush. Shush..."

Mabel rolled over. For a while she was left alone, until her nose caught a whiff of fresh, warm pancakes. She sat up (briefly wondering where she was before recalling the events of last night) and stretched, dressing quickly and rubbing her eyes as she entered the kitchen.

"Mabel!" Ford, who was standing over the stove whilst Dipper laid the table, broke out into a wide smile at the sight of his niece. "Good morning! I heard you were in the mood for some pancakes."

"Yeah, those smell great!" No matter how weird a situation was, she could always appreciate a good pancake. "Can I help?"

"No, no. It's my pleasure, children." Ford tilted the last pancake onto the stack, and turned off the gas. "We can discuss things like chores over breakfast. I was thinking it would be a good idea to make a plan for the seven weeks you'll be staying with me."

Seven weeks... a whole new summer, give or take a week. Mabel had wanted summer to last forever, and even if she was ready to go home, a little extra time wouldn't hurt.

"So, what are we going to do?" Dipper leant forwards as their great uncle sat down. "Can we go into the forest and see all those creatures you were talking about? I was thinking all night about Bigfoot; is he real? Is he here? Or what about-"

"Slow down, Dipper!" Ford's expression hardened. "Before I let you two help me in any of my research, I need you to know that it can be very dangerous. I can keep you safe, but whenever we go into the woods I need your word that you will listen to everything I say."

Dipper and Mabel nodded solemnly, and his smile returned.

"I'm glad to hear that. I would never purposely lead you into danger, but the woods are full of surprises." He passed around plates. "On that note, who wants pancakes?"

Mabel happily accepted a plate, tearing into the stack as Ford began to discuss plans. She listened as her brother and uncle talked about walks in the woods, camping...

"We could go to the town," Mabel leaned forwards. "I know Dipper hasn't seen it yet."

Dipper raised an eyebrow. "And you have?"

"I could bring you two to see the town." Ford stroked his chin. "Hmm, I haven't been down there in a while. The townsfolk always seem rather apprehensive of me."

"Is it because you shave yourself with explosives? Haha, zing!"

"That might be the- hey, how do you know I do that?"

"Because I'm a creep!" Mabel grinned as they laughed. "A creep with déjà vu. This summer's gonna be awesome!"


	4. Chapter 4

That morning, the three went out for a walk in the woods. Mabel was starting to get tired of Dipper and Ford constantly going back and forth, so she decided to chip in.

"Hey, look, we're passing the bunker!" She gave the metal tree a few solid raps and waved to a shuddering bush. "Hi Schmebulock! You tell Jeff I am not interested in being a gnome queen, alright? Nice talk."

Both her brother and her great uncle were staring at her in astonishment. She grinned and kept the show going.

"Ooh, growing crystals! I bet you could put these on a flashlight and become an alpha twin. Just a guess. Anyway, back to what you boys were saying."

Grunkle Ford blinked. "Mabel, how did you...?"

"Guess? I've got lots of practice on Guess Who. Ask Dipper!"

"Yeah, she's good... But seriously, Mabel, how did you do that?"

"Do what? Oh, watch out for those flying eyebrows!" She skipped ahead. "This is fun!"

It was fun, and the rest of the walk was no less so. The look of shock on her Great Uncle's face as she kept upstaging him was never going to get old. Of course she'd tell them later, but if the universe was going to present her with the perfect practical joke setup, you'd better believe she was going to use it.

And so passed the first week of what Mabel called her 'extra summer'. The three of them went on a series of 'adventures' in the morning; that is to say, Ford taking them on walks in the forest and showing them rather harmless magic specimen. Compared to the wild chases, life-and-death battles and drama of her original summer, it was far too tame for her liking. In the afternoon, they settled down to even quieter activities like drawing and reading. Now that was fun, as Ford seemed far more relaxed and fun-loving in her extra summer than she had remembered and was more than willing to help out with some scrapbooking or to spread glitter on her artwork.

Those were fun times... but something still niggled at the back of Mabel's mind. It came up in the minutes before she went to sleep, or whenever she caught sight of the red car sitting out back: where was her Grunkle Stan?

But then those moments of wondering passed, as many thoughts did from Mabel's mind. An eternal optimist, she simply assumed he was happily scamming fools at the other end of the country or something. She never gave it much thought; why would she, when she was having the time of her life?

* * *

"Hmm," Ford was patting the bottom of a cereal box, watching dust clouds sprinkle around his bowl. "It seems we're out of food."

Dipper blinked. "Out of food? Do you have a garden where you grow your own stuff, or..."

"No, I get it at the local store."

"There's a store?" He snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah, there's that town Mabel keeps insisting she's seen."

"You'd better believe I have, bro."

"Pictures or it never happened."

"Change 'pictures' to 'drawings' and you've got yourself a deal."

"Oh, Mabel," Ford ruffled his niece's hair fondly, then reached for a coat. "But seriously, it would be remiss of me not to show you two the town of Gravity Falls. The people there are... strange, but kind. I'm sure there are even a few your age."

"And some slightly older teenagers for Dipper to have a crush on." Mabel nudged her brother. "Keep an eye out for Wendy!"

"What? Who's Wendy? That doesn't even make sense..."

A short car trip later, the three arrived at Gravity Falls. Ford pulled up next to the grocery store.

"Alright, kids. You two want to come in with me, or explore the town?"

"Explore the town."

"Explore the- haha, we said the same thing!"

"Just make sure to stick together, and be back here in ten minutes, okay? Have fun!" Ford waved them off. Dipper turned to his sister.

"That 'Tent of Telepathy' sign looks interesting. Should we take a look at that?"

"No it isn't, it's creepy. Wanna go to the graveyard?"

"Creepy? Why? Is this another one of your 'lucky guesses?"

She started towards the graveyard. "You bet it is, bro!"

"How are you doing that, anyway? I'm actually really curious."

"Oh, it's easy. You just have to... have to..."

A man was sitting on a bench in front of them. His back was hunched, his face was hidden, but there was something so familiar about him...

"Have to what, Mabel? Do you have, I dunno, some kind of informant? Why are we stopping?"

"Soos?"

"Who's Soos?"

"What do you mean, who's- nevermind. Just, hang on a minute, Dipper." Mabel walked over to the bench. "Hey... person!"

Soos looked up, and Mabel couldn't help but notice tear tracks running down his blotchy face. He wiped them away and put on a shaky smile as she approached. "Oh, hey little dude. You need something?"

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, it's fine. Don't worry about me. You enjoy being a kid, little dude." He looked down again. "It's fun while it lasts."

Mabel sat next to him "Aww, come on, Soos. You can tell me!"

"Uh... thank you, but no. No thanks."

"Haha, why not?"

"I don't know who you are." He shifted away from her. "Also no offense, but you're sort of creeping me out. How did you know my name?"

Mabel blinked. "You... you don't know me? Mabel? Mabel Pines?"

"Never heard that name in my life. Sorry."

"You don't know who I am." A horrible, horrible realisation was washing over Mabel, and before she knew it she was blinking back tears. "That means... Wendy... P-Pacifica... Everybody I kn-knew..."

"I'm sorry, little dude, I don't know... Did I do something wrong?"

And Dipper was suddenly there, pulling her away. "I'm sorry, sir. It's not you, my sister's a bit over the place. If you'd just excuse us... Mabel, what's going on?"

Mabel shook her head, lost for words.

"There you two are!" Ford was walking up. "I've got enough food to last us a minor apocalypse. The sky's so clear, I was thinking we could go camping- Mabel? What's wrong, are you okay? What happened?"

"I don't know! She was just talking to this guy, and then she started crying! Mabel, what's wrong?"

"Yes, sweetie, what's the matter?

Mabel looked up at their concerned faces, sniffed, and wailed, "I wanna go home!"


	5. Chapter 5

"Camping!" Ford took a big sniff of the air. "The fresh air out here is – well, to be honest, not that much different from my house – but the experience is what matters, right? Oh, I'm having so much fun already!"

He was not actually having fun. He was freaking out, because his niece had suddenly gone from enjoying her summer to hating it and she wouldn't say anything as to why.

"Me too!" Dipper said, fully aware of how overly enthusiastic he sounded. It was Mabel who was good at cheering people up, not him. "Are you going to show off your weird guessing skills, Mabel?"

And then there was Mabel. Reality had finally sunk in after a week: she wasn't living in the same dimension anymore. She wasn't friends with Wendy or Soos because they didn't work in the Mystery Shack, and they didn't work in the Mystery Shack because Grunkle Stan wasn't there. And where was Grunkle Stan? She had no idea. Would she ever see him again? She had no idea, and that broke her heart.

But at the same time, she felt a little guilty about Dipper and Ford. They were trying to make her feel better, but she just couldn't summon up the energy.

"Uh, sure," Mabel smiled – weakly. "That, that flower over there."

"Yeah? What about it?"

"It's weird."

Ford blinked. "Mmm, I suppose bluebells do have... an unusual shape." A pause. "Anyway, we're at our campsite. I've already gathered the logs, who wants to start the fire?"

* * *

They pitched tents. They lit fires. They roasted marshmallows. Still, Mabel couldn't stop thinking about her meeting with Soos, and couldn't shake the feeling of how wrong this all was. She was still thinking about it when she lay down to sleep.

That night, she dreamt she was floating in a dark abyss. At first Mabel thought this was kind of cool, but it occurred to her: wasn't this like that dream on the bus she'd had? Then: was she going home?

"Fat chance, kid!"

Mabel knew that voice. "Ugh, Bill."

"The one and only. Did'ja miss me?"

"No! You tried to kill my brother!" She spun around, trying to find him. "And you tortured Grunkle Ford, and you made us erase Grunkle Stan's memories! And-"

A hand gripped her shoulder and turned her around, face to face with Bill. "Nice list. I'd love to sit in the Mindscape and listen to all the reasons you hate me, but I'm a busy guy. Gotta unleash Weirdmaggeddon all over again, thanks to your family!"

"All over again?" She frowned. "Wait, you know-?"

"About the first summer? Sure do, kid! It's just you and me that got switched into new timelines. That Aoxlotl sure has a weird way of bringing you back from the dead."

"Aoxlotl?"

"Yep, the Aoxlotl." Bill rubbed his hands together. "So anyways, Shooting Star-"

"Hold up, Triangle Guy. If you're trying to make some sort of deal, it's not gonna work. I will cover my ears!"

"Oh wow, how scary. However will I find my way out of this situation."

"I'm dead serious! Go on, offer anything! Say that you can bring me back to my old timeline!"

"Whoa, whoa, Shooting Star, hold up. There's no way to go back."

Mabel blinked. "There's... not? But if we came here, can't we go back?"

"We didn't come here. The Aoxlotl brought us here."

"I still have no idea who that is."

Bill clenched his fists. "Both of us are stuck in this stupid timeline; me with a million to one chance of unleashing Weirdmaggeddon with Sixer still in this dimension, and you with an even more broken family than you started with! Still, you gotta make the best of your situation... which is why I'm here."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your great uncle, kid." Bill circled around her. "The dumb one with the suit and fez."

She gritted her teeth. "What have you done with Grunkle Stan?"

"Hey, for once this isn't on me. If anything, it's old Fordsie to blame. I'm here to help him out; all I ask in return is a little... favour."

Mabel caught on quickly. "Uh-uh, no, not happening. You always make bad deals, Bill!"

"Always?" Bill wrapped an arm around Mabel, who tried and failed to shrug him off. "You're a creative little mortal, Shooting Star. Open minded, always thinking outside of the box. I like that. So maybe you can open your mind and see I'm trying to help you out, huh?"

"No!" She stuck her fingers in her ears. "Not listening! La-la-la-la-la-la!"

"Too bad." Bill floated away. "Y'know, kid, I think if you knew what was going on, you'd change your tune."

"What?"

"I said if you knew what was going on, you'd change your-"

"What?"

Bill's form glowed red, and he yanked Mabel's fingers out of her ears. "You cost me Weirdmaggeddon, you puny, insignificant, irritating little _fleshbag_. Now listen up if you know what's good for you: there's a book in Sixer's study, the only book he's never read. Pull on it and, you know, see what happens." He began to fade away. "Sooner rather than later, Shooting Star. Fez doesn't have long! Hahaha, hahaha!"

Mabel woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. The early morning sun shone through the thin fabric of the tent, giving her just enough light to see her shaking hands.

"Mabel?" Dipper stirred in the bag next to her. "What's... what's wrong?"

"Uh... nothing. Nothing!" She took a deep breath. "Go back to sleep, Dipper."

He obliged, leaving her alone with her thoughts.


	6. Chapter 6

Mabel spent that day locked in a battle of wills with herself. Half of her screamed that Bill always lied; she should brush off his warning like the farce it was, stay out of Ford's study like she was told and continue life as always. Sure Grunkle Stan wasn't running the Mystery Shack, but that didn't mean he was in danger!

But then... what if he was? What if, just this one time, Bill was telling the truth? She should at least try and follow his clue, if only to remind herself of Bill's lies. I mean, seriously, saying there was a book her Grunkle Ford hasn't read? That was blatant.

And so, in the small hours of the morning, while the rest of her family slept peacefully in their beds, Mabel snuck downstairs. She opened the unlocked door to the study – see, if Ford was really hiding something, why wouldn't he lock the door to it? – and crept inside, turning on a flashlight to illuminate the book titles. Now, which one would she least expect her great uncle to have read?

Was it _The Truth about Unicorns_? Nope, he'd definitely read that one.

 _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_? The binding was worn with use – not the book she was looking for.

 _Magic Meteorology: a Guide to Magic-Influenced Weather Patterns_? A sciency, dictionary-like tome the width of her hand was something she only expected Ford to have read.

Mabel kept searching, but none of those books looked out of place. So Bill was lying... or she was searching on the wrong bookcase. She thought for a moment, and turned to the shelf placed almost exactly where the vending machine had been.

After a little more searching, she came up with the book he had definitely not read. It was hilarious that he even had this book on hand. I mean, seriously? Could you imagine Stanford Pines, holder of twelve PhD's, author of the Journals, sitting back on some chair by the fireplace and cracking open an edition of-

"Here goes nothing!" Mabel pulled it and heard a _clunk_ from within the walls. The whole bookcase began to shudder, and opened with a rush of air and blue light. She stared down the passage as the smoke cleared; Bill hadn't lied.

Not about this, at least.

The first time she'd been down this secret passage, it had been old and dusty. Now it was old and wet; mould congealed on the walls, and every step she took came with a squelch. The air was cold and stale, and when Mabel shone her flashlight onto the ceiling, deep cracks could be seen in the rock.

Nobody had come here in a long time.

With a gulp and a white-knuckle grip on her flashlight, Mabel continued downwards, trying not to think about the weight of rock sitting so precariously above her head. It wasn't easy, but she made it to the elevator. The decrepit, rusting elevator that Mabel most certainly did not want to step inside of.

"Does this thing even work?" She poked at the buttons, and something sparked within the elevator. Pipes burst, letting out a scream of steam so intense Mabel dropped her flashlight to cover her ears. The elevator juddered, juddered, juddered, and dropped with a blaze of sparks, screeching the whole way. A sound not unlike that of an explosion marked the impact, and the ceiling trembled.

Little stones and dust were still falling as Mabel retrieved her flashlight and shone it down the shaft; only a twisted hunk of metal remained at the bottom.

"Whoa."

This was so, so dangerous; Mabel was backing away from the edge before she even realised she was moving. The sensible part of her mind was screaming at her, please, please, get out before the whole ceiling came down on her, to forget Bill - he probably wanted to get her killed! Stan was fine, he had to be fine!

But what about Soos? What about Bill's warning? If she waited, she might never see him again!

"Grunkle Stan..." Mabel teared up; she missed him so much. To get him back?

It was worth any risk.

She wiped her eyes, pulled out her grappling hook, and walked to the edge. "Alright, here goes nothing. For real this time- aaah!" She jumped out of her skin at a drop of cold water landing on her head, and took a moment to glare at the mould patch directly above her. "Eww... anyway, for Grunkle Stan!"

Mabel fired the grappling hook, and it lodged in a crack in the rocks. After a few tugs to make sure it held, she took a deep breath and stepped forward, into the abyss. She dropped slowly, and landed on what was left of the elevator. The landing was soft, but it still gave a mighty creak and groan as she walked into a doorway labelled '3'.

Ford's old laboratory. Or at least, what was left of it.

The mess of machinery, pipes, tanks, levers, screens... they were all gone. The portal was still there, an imposing structure that stood out amongst all the damage and decay. It looked new. Shiny.

Mabel didn't get it.

"Oh-kay..." Mabel stepped closer to the portal, shining her flashlight all around. "There's the portal. Great. Really worth the trip. No seriously, what am I supposed to be seeing here? What's that evil triangle guy trying to show me?"

She looked over the portal once more, and something caught her eye - a dent? No, it was a piece of metal nailed to it... with writing on it!

Mabel's excitement quickly boiled away to fear as she read the inscription.

 _Here lies Stanley Pines_

 _1960-1982_

 _I'm sorry._

And suddenly, everything clicked into place. Mabel paled, looking from where the portal controls used to be, to the huge, empty place where the portal was supposed to be. "Oh, no."

 _I'm sorry_ , said the inscription.

"Oh, no."


End file.
